1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus and more particularly to an apparatus arranged to reproduce a video signal from a tape-shaped recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
The known apparatuses of the above-stated kind include digital VTRs which are arranged to convert video signals supplied from outside into digital signals and to record and/or reproduce the digital signals on or from a magnetic tape.
VTRs are desired in general to be arranged to permit recording over a long period of time by cutting down the amount of tape to be consumed. To meet this requirement, it has been practiced to narrow the pitch of recording tracks by lowering a tape transport speed at the time of recording.
However, the possible extent of narrowing of the recording tracks is limited because magnetic recording characteristics have their limits. In the case of digital VTRs, a high-compression and long-time recording method has been developed. According to the high-compression and long-time recording method, recording time can be increased, taking advantage of digital recording, by slowing the tape transport speed and compressing the amount of information of digital signals to be recorded.
Meanwhile, digital VTRs for general consumers must be arranged to have, in addition to a standard or normal reproducing function, some special reproducing function such as a slow reproduction mode in which signals are reproduced by making the tape transport speed slower than the tape transport speed used for recording.
Assuming that a VTR has a long-time recording mode in which the amount of information of digital signals to be recorded is xc2xd of the amount of information of digital signals to be recorded in a normal recording mode and the tape transport speed is also xc2xd of the speed of the normal recording mode, the slow reproduction is arranged to be performed as follows.
With digital signals recorded in the normal recording mode, in reproducing the recorded digital signal at a slow speed which is ⅕ of a normal speed, for example, the tape transport speed is set to a speed which is ⅕ of a tape transport speed used for the normal recording mode. On the other hand, in reproducing at the ⅕ slow speed some digital signals recorded in the long-time recording mode, the tape must be transported at a speed which is xe2x80x9cxc2xdxc3x97⅕={fraction (1/10)}xe2x80x9d of the tape transport speed used for the normal recording mode.
However, control over such a low tape-transport speed is extremely unstable. Besides, this unstableness is furthered by the decrease of inertia caused by the recent trend of reducing the size of mechanical parts, etc., of the VTR.
The invention is directed to the solution of the problems of the prior art described in the foregoing.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a reproducing apparatus arranged to permit a slow reproducing operation to be stably carried out.
It is another object of the invention to provide a reproducing apparatus arranged to be capable of stably reproducing data recorded in a plurality of modes which differ in speed of transporting a recording medium.
To attain the above objects, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for reproducing video data recorded on a tape-shaped recording medium in one of a first recording mode in which the video data is recorded while the tape-shaped recording medium is transported at a first speed and a second recording mode in which the video data is recorded while the tape-shaped recording medium is transported at a second speed different from the first speed, the apparatus comprising transport means for transporting the tape-shaped recording medium, reproducing means for reproducing the video data from the tape-shaped recording medium, and mode setting means for selectively setting one of a plurality of modes including a first slow reproduction mode in which video data recorded in the first recording mode is reproduced by the reproducing means while the tape-shaped recording medium is transported by the transport means at a third speed different from each of the first and second speeds and a second slow reproduction mode in which video data recorded in the second recording mode is reproduced by the reproducing means while the tape-shaped recording medium is transported by the transport means at the third speed.